Part I The International Law of Tainted Money, 1 General Introduction: Some Problems Relating to the Role of International Law

Subject(s):

Banks and cross-border issues — Regulation of banks — Anti-terrorist financing — Money laundering — Regulated activities

This book is concerned with the emergence of an international law of money laundering. The Introduction explains that a re-ordering of international monetary relations after World War II necessitated new approaches to the law of money in general. Epochal changes in monetary relations across borders have resulted in review and revision of the rules of international law concerned with money, and, accordingly, governments, legislatures, courts, and commentators have needed to re-visit those rules occasionally. The international law of money laundering has mostly been grafted upon the world’s monetary system; it has not involved the creation of a completely new system. However, the Introduction argues, it has had a significant impact. The impetus that has led states and international organizations to adopt money laundering rules at the international level is a reaction to a threat, or series of threats, originating largely outside the system. These threats include: organized crime on an international and macro-economic scale; terrorism; and the need to change the conduct of some states. This book as a whole presents an account of international law in its present evolving state in the field of tainted money. The chapters herein aim to address the law as it currently is; and close with a look at where the future of money might take us and those who aim to regulate its misuse.